September 2009 Archives

Copenhagen Watch: Updates from Tribune reporters at the International Olympic Committee meeting.

Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Mayor Richard Daley, former Olympic athletes and other VIPs gathered in a Copenhagen hotel tonight (local time) for a welcome dinner to kick off Chicago's final push for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

"For me, this is beyond exciting because here we are, just hours away from a decision that could be a landmark in Chicago history," Winfrey said.

Read more on remarks by her and others at the dinner.

Chicago Tribune special report

The Chicago area's Brazilian community is hoping that Chicago won't be chosen to host the 2016 Olympics. They want Rio de Janeiro bid to be announced as the winner on Friday by the International Olympic Committee.

"I feel that people should see another side of Brazil, besides violence, carnival, samba, the Amazon and naked women," said Fabiana Kraemer a 25-year-old business student at Elgin Community College. Medill report

(AP) -- A Madrid 2016 Olympics bid official has reportedly labeled rival Rio de Janeiro's bid the "worst" of the four cities competing for the right to host the games.
Spanish Olympic Committee vice president Jose Maria Odriozola called Rio "the worst bid" according to Spanish news agency Efe on Wednesday.

Odriozola said Rio's standing as one of the favorites for Friday's vote comes down to marketing and sentimentality and security remains an issue.

"At this point, the IOC is not going to risk it and take the Games to a site where it doesn't have total confidence that it can be done well," said Odriozola, who is also president of the Spanish athletics federation.

Madrid is also competing against Chicago and Tokyo for the right to host the 2016 Summer Games.

Could Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Games be hurt by Mayor Richard M. Daley's comments about the competition with Rio de Janeiro?

Daley's comments last week about Rio's capabilities to host both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics are being taken by Rio as critical of Chicago's presumed main rival in Friday's International Olympic Committee vote for the 2016 Games.

What Daley said about Tokyo and Madrid also could be viewed as critical of those two other finalists, since he minimized their chances based on geographical factors.

The IOC prohibits bid cities from criticizing their rivals. Chicago Tribune report

 Michelle Obama remembers watching Nadia Comaneci score a perfect 10, a first in the history of Olympic gymnastics, and thinking, I can be a gymnast.

It was Montreal.

It was 1976.

It was Chicago's South Side, where a 12-year-old girl rapt before a TV had not yet grown into the 5-foot, 11-inch woman she would become. Chicago Tribune report

The setting was a movable platform built in the middle of a swimming pool at a public sports facility.

The Chicago 2016 bid committee used the occasion to surround its leaders--chief executive  Patrick Ryan and Mayor Richard Daley-- with the star athletes promoting the city's bid.

Ryan said the bid committee did a poll last week that showed 72 percent of Chicagoans and 82 percent of Americans support the bid. That contrasts with a recent Tribune poll showing only 47 percent for and 45 percent against the bid. Chicago Tribune report

Brazilian soccer great Pele isn't worried President Barack Obama's star power could help Chicago win the bid for the 2016 Olympics at the expense of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio is seen as a slight favorite ahead of Friday's vote by the International Olympic Committee, but Obama's decision to fly into Copenhagen for the final presentation could swing the ballot in Chicago's favor. Madrid and Tokyo are the other candidates.

However, Pele said Tuesday that Rio "doesn't compete with Obama. We are competing against Madrid, against Tokyo, against Chicago." Associated Press report

Tokyo has spent months telling how important the environment is to its bid for the 2016 Games.

Now it's showing it.

Using a large, interactive globe that shows, among other things, the far-reaching spread of pollutants and possible effects of global warming, Tokyo's organizers said Tuesday their plans for the 2016 Games could be a model not just for future Olympics, but for cities worldwide.

"If Tokyo, with a dense population of 30 million, can achieve this goal ... it will be great encouragement for the whole world," said Shin-ichi Takemura, an environmental expert who is part of the Tokyo 2016 design team. TDN report

Given all that is on the president's plate -- health care reform, Iran's nuclear program, the Afghan battle front, climate change legislation, and a struggling economy -- is Mr. Obama in danger of spreading himself too thin by spending time on wooing the Olympiad to the shores of Lake Michigan?

Not a problem, says CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer.

CBS news report

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is confident Rio de Janeiro can win its bid for the 2016 Olympics and he'll "return from Copenhagen with a victory." Associated Press

President Obama is taking his eye off the ball, his critics say, chiding him for his plan to travel to Denmark to make the case for having his hometown of Chicago host the 2016 Olympics.

The White House announced Monday that the president will travel Thursday night to Copenhagen to make a personal appearance before the International Olympic Committee as it prepares to announce the host city for the 2016 Summer Games. Obama will join his wife, Michelle, who is leading the U.S. delegation, along with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

Fox news report

Rio de Janeiro has international appeal as host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, the head of world soccer's governing body FIFA Sepp Blatter said on Monday.

That does not, however, guarantee winning the International Olympic Committee's vote this week ahead of Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo, said Blatter, who is in Rio for Tuesday's FIFA executive committee meeting. Reuters report

LONDON -- Close your eyes and imagine the possible scenarios in 2016.

Olympic athletes strolling to competition venues along Chicago's lakefront. Volleyball players diving on the sand of Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach. Cyclists whizzing past Tokyo's Imperial Palace. Soccer players curling free kicks in Madrid's Bernabeu stadium.

After a two-year global campaign featuring four world-class cities, one of the closest bid races in Olympic history will be decided next Friday in a vote of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.

Although IOC votes -- by secret ballot over several rounds -- can be highly unpredictable, Rio and Chicago look to be the main contenders. ESPN report

WHAT: Selection of the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
WHERE: Copenhagen.

WHEN: Friday, Oct. 2.

THE CANDIDATES: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

WHO DECIDES: The International Olympic Committee.

VOTING PROCESS: IOC members vote by secret ballot until one city receives a majority; the city receiving the fewest votes is eliminated after each round. The maximum number of rounds is three.

HOW MANY: The IOC has 106 members. The president, Jacques Rogge, doesn't vote. Members from a country with a bid city in the race are ineligible to vote as long as their candidate is still in contention. That means 98 members are eligible to vote in the first round; more in subsequent rounds. In the event of a tie vote in the early rounds, a runoff is held between the two cities. If there is a tie in the final round, Rogge can vote or ask the IOC executive board to break the deadlock.

THE VENUE: The Bella Conference Center.

PRESENTATIONS: Each city will make 45-minute presentations to the IOC members on the day of the vote, with another 15 minutes for questions and answers.

THE ORDER: The presentations begin with Chicago at 8:50 a.m. Copenhagen time. Tokyo goes next at 10:30 a.m., followed by Rio at 12:10 p.m. and Madrid at 2:50 p.m.

THE VOTE: Members start voting at 5:10 p.m. (1510 GMT) Voting finished by 5:40 p.m. (1540 GMT)

THE ANNOUNCEMENT: The announcement ceremony is scheduled from 6:30 to 7 p.m. (1630 to 1700 GMT)

Tokyo once was considered a front-runner to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Japan hasn't hosted a Summer Games since 1964, so Tokyo boosters could argue it was time for the Olympics to return.

Moreover, with the country's deep pockets, financing the new venues and building the infrastructure needed for the Games wouldn't be a problem for the Japanese. Indeed, in the first round of the selection process in June 2008, Tokyo received the highest overall evaluation, besting fellow finalists Chicago, Madrid, and Rio de Janeiro.

Business Week report

If life is fair then the International Olympic Committee will next week declare that Brazil has been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics and thus become the first South American nation to win one of sports' greatest honors.

At least that's the claim Brazil is making. The other main contenders are the U.S., Spain and Japan and they've all hosted the Olympics before. Brazil, meanwhile, is a tourist mecca, with beaches, sun, a welcoming population, and a vibrant economy whose recent performance has shamed many of its developing world rivals. Rio -- and South America -- deserves the chance to show what it can do. Time magazine report

Mayor Richard Daley today sought one more time to rally the city behind the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics before heading to Copenhagen for next week's vote to determine who will host the games.

Daley did not directly answer questions about the business relationship between Chicago bid committee member Michael Scott and prospective Olympic Village developer, outlined in a Tribune story today.

Instead, he took a broad shot at the local media, saying they have been unfair without offering specifics. He suggested negative media coverage, combined with public concerns over the economy, may have dampened enthusiasm for the bid in Chicago.

"No - because of people like you - [people] in your business are getting laid off every day," Daley told reporters. "People are getting laid off in your business all over this country, and you better believe people are mad. They're upset. They lost a job."

Chicago Tribune report

The White House, after initially saying that President Obama was too busy with overhauling the health insurance system to commit to going to Copenhagen to push for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid, now says that he "absolutely" might go.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Mr. Obama's flight to Pittsburgh from New York on Thursday that an advance team has departed the United States for Copenhagen "to preserve the option for the President to visit Copenhagen and lend his voice to America's bid for the 2016 Olympics." But, he added, no final decisions have been made.

New  York Times report

There's a new player on the traveling team going to Copenhagen to try to win the 2016 Olympic Games for Chicago: Ray LaHood, the U.S. Transportation secretary.

LaHood, 63, born in Peoria, served in the House from 1995 until he was tapped by President Obama to be transportation chief early this year. Earlier LaHood served in the Illinois legislature.

His presence could be significant because of the expected influx of federal dollars for transportation projects the games will need. Chicago Tribune report

The White House said Thursday that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, a native of Chicago, will travel with the United States Delegation to Copenhagen in support of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. Duncan joins First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen next week to support the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics, a source familiar with planning for the IOC meeting tells Around the Rings. Around the Rings report

The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid team's assertion that a Summer Games would pump $13.7 billion into the city's economy will be challenged Thursday when an independent analysis says new spending is likely to be about one-third that amount.

Oprah Winfrey will travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, for Chicago 2016's final presentation to the International Olympic Committee on October 2, it was announced Wednesday.

"We are very honored and excited to have Oprah Winfrey travel to Copenhagen," said Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016. "As a member of our community and as someone who understands and demonstrates the value of helping others, she embodies the spirit of so many Chicagoans and is truly an emissary for our bid and for the city of Chicago."

Here are some key facts concerning each of the bids:

VENUES:

Chicago: 31 venues in total. 15 existing with no permanent work required; one to be built irrespective of the Olympic Games; six new additional permanent venues, to be built only if Chicago is elected and scaled down after the Games; and nine temporary venues.

20 venues within 10 km of the Olympic Village. 19 venues within 10 minutes and four venues within 10-20 minutes of the Olympic Village. Most of the 31 venues would be located along the lakefront, close to the city center.

A new 80,000-seater Olympic stadium. Post-Games capacity to be reduced to around 10,000.
Reuters report

Two-time intermediate hurdles champion Edwin Moses is under consideration as one of Chicago's 10 speakers in its 45-minute presentation to the IOC the day of the vote. 

He declined to comment when asked Tuesday by telephone whether he was to be one of the presenters.

--Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune

Five Olympic track and field gold medalists are among the 26 Olympic and Paralympians who will go to Copenhagen to help in the final pitch for Chicago's 2016 Summer Games bid to the International Olympic Committee.
            Only one of the five, 1992 triple jump winner Mike Conley of Luther South High School, is a Chicagoan.
            And the most famous athlete associated with Chicago, two-time Olympic basketball champion Michael Jordan, is absent from the group of 26 announced Wednesday by the Chicago 2016 bid committee.
            The Tribune first reported two weeks ago that Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan did not expect Jordan to come to Copenhagen, but the former Bulls star has not made a public statement of his intentions. Phil Hersh, Chicago Tribune

Olympic organizers in Rio de Janeiro said Wednesday that Brazil has the advantage over its three rivals for the 2016 Summer Games.

Observers consider Rio and Chicago are the top contenders for host city with Madrid and Tokyo trailing behind. Members of the International Olympic Committee choose the 2016 host city in Copenhagen on October 2.

CBS report

What cannot be overlooked in a maze of economic development, sponsorship, job creation, urban renewal, and transportation concerns is the Paralympic Games, which follow at the same venues right after each summer and winter Olympics.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-dwyre-garton/paralympics-a-bonus-beyon_b_295093.html

Chicago's Olympics bid enters the home stretch, Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday continued to sound his theme that hosting the 2016 Summer Games would transform the city's worldwide reputation. Chicago Tribune report

The crowd at President Barack Obama's victory rally stretched from one end of Grant Park to the other, spilling onto nearby sidewalks and streets. From Oprah Winfrey to blue-collar workers, downtown pulsed with elation and electricity.

Almost a year after he won the presidential election, Obama is at the center of another potentially transformative vote -- one that could change his old neighborhood forever. Associated Press

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that since Brazil is hosting the 2014 World Cup, Rio will be ready for the Olympics two years later.

Brazil is trying to bring the games to South America for the first time, and Rio is positioned as a strong contender against Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo ahead of the International Olympic Committee's vote on Oct. 2. Associated Press

Rio 2016's accommodation project has received a further boost from the city's hotel industry. The Windsor hotel chain has pledged to make 1,830 additional rooms available, in five different projects, for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In its Candidature File, submitted to the IOC in February, Rio's plans exceeded the required 40,000 rooms, with guarantees for more than 52,800 rooms. Around the rings report

Mayor Daley's Olympics team has fashioned a unique package of insurance for the 2016 Summer Games designed to protect taxpayers from an array of unforeseen events such as a terrorist attack, a stadium collapse or even a pandemic.

But insurance can't protect against human incompetence, poor performance or corruption, and there's still the unsettled issue of potential cost overruns at the proposed Olympic Village. Chicago Tribune report

President Barack Obama has written to International Olympic Committee members promising the United States would "welcome the world with open arms" if Chicago is awarded the 2016 Summer Games.

"The City of Chicago is designed to host global celebrations and it will deliver a spectacular Olympic experience for one and all," Obama said in a letter to IOC members that was obtained by The Associated Press.

The 338-word typed form letter, dated Sept. 10, is addressed to individual members and bears the signature of the president. It raises the possibility of Obama going to Copenhagen to push the Chicago bid at the Oct. 2 vote. Associated Press story via Crain's

 
Mayor Richard Daley today said he was "getting more confident" that Chicago will be chosen host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics when international officials vote in two weeks.

The mayor said he thought Chicago's main competition would be Rio de Janeiro because the other two cities competing - Tokyo and Madrid - are near Olympic sites in other countries. The 2008 Olympics were in China and the 2012 Games will be in London.

Daley added that Chicago may have the edge over Rio because that city will play host to soccer's World Cup in 2014.  Clout Street blog

Until President Obama held a White House rally last  week for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, I hadn't realized how much I want my city to be chosen. NPR

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The success of the 2007 Pan American Games has significantly helped Rio de Janeiro become a top contender to host the 2016 Olympics, Brazil's sports minister said Friday.

Orlando Silva said the Pan Ams and the city's revamped technical project following relatively low grades in the first round of voting marked the turning point in Rio's bid, giving the city front-runner status ahead of the Oct. 2 deciding vote on the host of the 2016 Olympics.

USA TODAY

Tribune sports columnist Rick Morrissey on why he backs Chicago's bid: "The world comes to us, bonds with us over this one event and in the process, opens our eyes a little more. It might even crack open our hearts a bit more."

Some think President Barack Obama was playing Zorro on the White House lawn Wednesday, fencing with an Olympic foil, with Mayor Richard Daley looking on.

But please, let's not get bogged down in confusing mythic symbolism.

The message from President Obama was real clear politics: Chicago's president of the United States wants Chicago's political boss happy and hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.

Chicago Tribune's John Kass

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said his company is unlikely to bid for broadcasting rights for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics unless Chicago is selected to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, reports the MediaDailyNews.

Murdoch said his company has no plans to bid for the Olympics but might be enticed if Chicago hosts the 2016 games. United States broadcast right's bidding for the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2016 Olympics will take place after the 121st IOC Session & XIII Olympic Congress in Copenhagen next month. On Oct. 2 at the Copenhagen meeting, the 2016 Summer Olympics will be awarded to either Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo. Murdoch said broadcasting the a potential 2016 Chicago Olympics games "may be very tempting." Around the Rings

WASHINGTON--Sixteen days from the deciding vote, President Barack Obama made a rousing pitch today for Chicago to win the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. He later joined in some Olympic-style fun and games on the South Lawn of the White House.

"Americans, like Chicagoans -- we don't like to make small plans," Obama said. "We want to dream big and reach high.

President Barack Obama and Mayor Richard M. Daley at White House today. (Tercha/Tribune)

Olympic legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee will join President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House on Wednesday to tout Chicago as the host of the 2016 Summer Games.

Joyner-Kersee, who grew up in East St. Louis, is a track and field superstar who collected six Olympic medals--three of them gold--during her career.

Mayor Richard Daley today said there is still a "window of opportunity" that President Barack Obama will travel next month to Copenhagen to make the final pitch for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.

Daley, who is traveling to Washington tonight and will attend a White House reception tomorrow hosted by the president to promote the city's bid, said there was still a "glimmer of hope" that Obama would make the trip along with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Read more in the Tribune's Clout Street

The TV diva tells the Tribune she is open to a Copenhagen trip for the Oct. 2 vote on host city.

                                          Oprah Winfrey at an IOC celebration at the

                                                        Art Institute last April. (DeNuzzo/Tribune)

Tribune columnist and blogger Steve Chapman thinks new pro-bid announcements on CTA buses amount to "browbeating" of riders.

Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times

WASHINGTON--President Obama just phoned Mayor Daley to tell him he may not be able to travel to Copenhagen next month to help make the final pitch for Chicago to win the 2016 Olympic summer games because of his pending fight to pass health care legislation. First Lady Michelle Obama will lead the U.S. delegation.

I'm told the President told the mayor he is very committed, he will continue to press the case and Michelle Obama will lead the U.S. Olympic Committee delegation's bid for the Chicago 2016 games. Obama can't, at this moment, commit to going because he cannot say where the health care issue will be in the first week of October.

This puts pressure on Mrs. Obama, who could end up filling in for the president, competing with the heads of state of Brazil, Japan and Spain who are going to Denmark on a high stakes sales call to secure the games for Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo or Madrid.

Mayor Richard Daley took a call from President Barack Obama this morning, but the mayor said little afterwards and it was still unknown whether the president will travel to Copenhagen to pitch the city's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

White House officials have been noncommittal about whether the president will be part of the hourlong final pitch to the members of the International Olympic Committtee in Copenhagen before they vote on which city should host the games. Chicago Tribune

Chicago 2016 organizers are making a last-minute push to promote the city's bid as environmentally friendly. Among their plans to make the event more sustainable: They would convert stadium seats into wheelchairs after the Games and donate them to those who need them worldwide.

Will he stay or will he go? The question of whether President Barack Obama goes for the gold -- and sprints to Copenhagen to try to close the sale for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid -- looms large as the Oct. 2 vote by the International Olympic Committee nears.

The chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee said Wednesday that she does not believe Chicago is in the lead in its bid for the 2016 Olympics.  But Stephanie Streeter believes it can finish first.

"What you want to do is be in the lead on the last day, after the vote is taken, not necessarily going into the competition," she said, in an exclusive interview with WBBM. 

Streeter said she believes Chicago is peaking at the right time.  She called the Chicago bid "spectacular," said Wednesday's unanimous Chicago City Council vote to make financial guarantees erased one potential obstacle, and said the unanimity speaks far louder than the recent Chicago Tribune poll that showed Chicagoans nearly evenly split over support for the bid.

WBBM report

The United States Olympic Committee is making no secret of its hope that President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen next month to join the final effort to persuade the International Olympic Committee to pick Chicago for host of the 2016 games.

"We are hoping he could join us there to enhance the Chicago 2016 bid,'' USOC Chairman Larry Probst said at a news conference today. "I think it will be extremely important."

That raised the question, would Chicago be at a disadvantage if the president didn't show up?

USOC acting chief executive Stephanie Streeter ducked that, saying, "We would love for him to be there. We think it will make a difference, and we have made it clear to him through his White House staff."

-- Philip Hersh

WASHINGTON - Aiming to boost his hometown's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, President Barack Obama is bringing Olympic athletes to the White House next week and sending a senior adviser to Denmark to lobby Olympic officials, the Associated Press reports.

The White House has not said if Obama will also travel to Denmark.

Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan does not expect Chicago icon Michael Jordan to be part of the city's bid delegation in Copenhagen.

"I have no reason to believe he will be there," Ryan told the Tribune today after addressing the U.S Olympic assembly at the Palmer House Hilton. "We haven't given up on it. He hasn't said no to us yet.''

The Chicago City Council today granted approval without a single dissenting vote to an ordinance that puts taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns if Chicago wins the 2016 Olympics.

Afterward, aldermen and Mayor Richard Daley gave themselves a standing ovation. The vote reauthorizes Daley to sign the Olympics host city contract in advance of the Oct. 2 vote in Copenhagen by the International Olympics Committee on which of four finalist cities gets the Summer Games in seven years.

More details in the Tribune's Clout Street.

Associated Press

LONDON -- The man who engineered London's narrow victory for the 2012 Olympics says the race for the 2016 Summer Games is even harder to call.

Sebastian Coe tells The Associated Press that next month's vote on the 2016 host city is "even closer and tighter" than the 2012 contest in which London beat out Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow.

Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo are the 2016 candidates. The International Olympic Committee will vote in Copenhagen on Oct. 2.

Coe says at this stage in the 2012 race, it was clear that London and Paris had the momentum and at least two of the other cities were treading water. But he said Monday it's difficult to say the same about any of the 2016 bidders.

A City Council committee today approved an ordinance that would authorize Mayor Richard Daley to sign the Olympics host city agreement that would leave taxpayers on the hook if there were major cost overruns for the 2016 Games.

The contract would require the city to cover cost overruns beyond the $750 million already backed by the city and state. Olympic organizers say insurance policies would protect the public, making it unlikely they would even dip into the $750 million.

Read more in the Tribune's Clout Street blog

More than 500 members of the city's hospitality industry rallied Thursday around Mayor Richard Daley's 2016 Olympic bid.

The industry presented the Chicago 2016 bid committee with pro-bid petitions signed by 12,289 workers. That recession-stung industry stands to gain business if Chicago wins its bid.

Support in Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games has dwindled, with residents now sharply divided over whether the city should host the Games, a Tribune/WGN poll has found.

Nearly as many city residents oppose Mayor Richard Daley's Olympic plans, 45 percent, as support them, 47 percent..

Poll numbers

The major criticism leveled in the International Olympic Committee's evaluation report, which was released Wednesday, centered on Chicago's reluctance earlier this year to sign a blanket financial guarantee to cover costs for the 2016 Summer Games.

Full coverage from today's Chicago Tribune

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan says the city's bid could have avoided some of the criticism on financial guarantees expressed in the International Olympic Committee's evaluation report today if the city had agreed earlier to sign the standard host city contract.

In an interview with the Tribune, Ryan said the host city contract provides guarantees not only for the Games operating budget but for the construction of the $1 billion Olympic Village, an area of concern raised by the IOC evaluation report.

Chicago 2016 Chairman and CEO Pat Ryan, middle, flanked by 2016 Communications Chief Patrick Sandusky and President Lori Healey at a news conference today. (Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune)

The group behind Chicago's bid issues a statement.

There were, as expected, few surprises in the International Olympic Committee's evaluation of the four finalists for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which found flaws with each of the bids, some based on outdated information.

The IOC evaluation commission report, issued today on the Internet, is unlikely to be the decisive factor in the Oct. 2 vote for the 2016 Summer Games host but gave supporters of each bid reasons for celebration and concern as they head into the final month of the campaign. (Click here to read the entire report.)

Could "windy city" be an issue?

It's likely to say all bid cities -- including Chicago -- are capable of meeting the IOC's standards, Phil Hersh writes.

The document to be released Wednesday morning on the Internet will run to some 100 pages, but don't expect it to say much than isn't already known.

Spaniards stand united behind Madrid's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games while Tokyo has the weakest public support among the four potential host cities, a global study showed on Tuesday.

In an advance copy released exclusively to Reuters, "Sponsoring 21+" prepared by Germany-based sponsoring consultancy Sport+Markt, said 93 percent of Spanish respondents backed the Madrid bid, closely followed by Chicago and Rio de Janeiro.

If Chicago wins the 2016 Olympics next month, Alds. Edward Burke and Carrie Austin would be the City Council's representatives on the organizing committee that will plan and run the Games, according to a draft ordinance reviewed by the Tribune.

The finance committee, chaired by Burke (14th), has scheduled a hearing today to consider renewing its formal backing of Mayor Richard Daley's plans to win the 2016 Summer Games. The proposal expected to be introduced at the hearing covers several points that Daley and bid leaders say will ensure financial oversight of Olympic business.

More details in the Tribune's Clout Street blog